Smiling gift
by SalimaLiAkiyama
Summary: After leaving the world of Piffle the heroes of Tsubasa find themselves running into...one of their own. The group learns that the best gift can come in a smile.


Tomeda was a peaceful part of Japan and though the town had seen a few unusual things nothing could have prepared the town, or it's people, for the event that had just started to unfold. The event chose to start right in the middle of the track field that belonged to the Tomeda middle school division.

Several screams broke the air as four people fell from the sky into the soft grass below. Though nervous about these people that had appeared out of nowhere, the group of middle schoolers circled around them. More screams erupted from the group as one of the males, the one wearing mostly black, stood up and glared at the children gathered.

A blond haired man was the next to stand. He laughed when he saw the black haired man's glare. "Oh stop that Kuro-ran. You'll scare all the cute little ones." He then slung an arm around the man's shoulders and leaned forward a little, smiling. "Don't worry. He may look tough but he won't hurt you."

"Shut up, Mage. And stop using those damn nicknames." Kurogane growled, still glaring at the children that had gathered.

"Ah! Kurogane-san, Fai-san, please don't argue. We need to find a place for Princess-"

"Sakura!" The boy was cut off by a loud scream from a black haired girl. The three males had to do a double take because the girl who now stood in front of them looked almost exactly like the young women they had just left behind on the world on Piffle.

"What is it Tomo-" Another girl had managed to push her way to the front of the group only to stop when she saw herself, or at least an older version of herself, stand up next to the brown haired boy that looked so much like Li Syaoran. "Syaoran-kun!"

Syaoran looked away from the Princess at his name being called and blinked once then twice before taking a glance around. Though the girl standing next to Tomoyo looked like the Princess when she was younger, she couldn't be. No. This world was not his, nor were any of the people around then from his world. Yet the girl knew his name and looked like Sakura.

"Remember what the witch said, Syaoran-kun. We will meet people we know, and maybe even ourselves, but that person has lived a different life then the one we know." Fai D. Florite reminded the teen who still appeared to be stunned by the seemingly younger version of Princess Sakura.

Brown hair fell into brown eyes as Syaoran nodded. He had been the first one to make that mistake in the first country they had been to. He had called two regular people by the titles they held on his world. This time though he could not make that same mistake as the person he thought it could be was standing right next to him.

Suddenly the white stuffed animal Princess Sakura had been holding onto jumped onto Syaoran's shoulder. "Are you ok? Mokona didn't want you to get hurt." Many of the people gather gasped when Modoki Mokona spoke.

Syaoran smiled at Mokona. "I'm fine." He turned to look at the girl by his side. "What about you Princess, are you okay?"

Before the young women could reply they noticed Tomoyo standing right beside them, holding a video camera, beaming with happiness. "Oh! So cute! Just like my little Sakura-chan!"

"Phwee?!" Two slightly different voices made the noise in unison.

Tomoyo giggled and grabbed the hand of the older girl next to her. "Come on. You look a little tired and I want to talk to you some. Let's go inside." She said with a small smile before pulling both Sakuras towards the school, leaving the three males and Mokona to follow.

After a few minutes of walking through fairly empty halls the group of seven turned into an empty classroom where Tomoyo let go of the hands of the girls she had been dragging around. "Please sit down."

Once everyone was sitting down Tomoyo smiled and sat down. "That was a very interesting trick you did back there. The falling out of the sky, I mean. And you don't have to hide little white…umm…pardon me but what are you?"

"Mokona is Mokona!" The time jumping bunny like animal hopped up from Princess Sakura's lap and over to the young girl who caught it in mid-jump.

"Then Mokona it is. My name is Daidouji Tomoyo, by the way." She said, as she looked it over. "Sakura-chan." Both looked up to the black haired girl. "Oh…we'll have to figure a way to tell them apart. This is Sakura-chan," Tomoyo pointed to the younger of the two. "And this is Sakura-san." She pointed to the elder Sakura. The males looked at each other and nodded their agreement. "Ok, Sakura-chan, it seems like Mokona is like Kero-chan."

Before anyone could say anything else a little orange head popped out of the bag Sakura-chan had been carrying. "Did someone say my name?" It asked, squirming the rest of the way out of the bag before the pre-teen had a chance to open the bag for it. Beady black eyes looked around the room until they landed on Mokona in Tomoyo's hold. "Well, well. If it isn't Modoki Mokona. How have you been?" It had not seemed to be fazed by the double of Sakura nor of being out around any of the others

Mokona seemed to tilt sideways a little. "Mokona is fine but who are you?" it asked the golden flying plush.

The plush toy looked offended at the thought that it wasn't remembered by Mokona. "I'm Ceroberus. The guardian of the Clow cards. You know. I was made by the great Clow Reed." Kero finished, thinking that would refresh Mokona's memory. Sadly Kero wouldn't be able to find out yet.

"Ceroberus? The sun god and one of the protectors of Clow. Father told me so many legends about you. How you saved the land of Clow from the great monsters and from a large fire, he told me everything." Syaoran stood up and walked around the floating guardian. "Though after everything Father told me about you…I expected you to a bit…bigger. Though I find it amazing that such a power as Ceroberus could fit inside you. That must mean you're very strong."

Kero blinked, not quite sure how to respond to what the boy was saying. He could tell the teen hadn't meant anything bad by saying what he had said; it was just his honest thoughts. In fact it almost sounded like he was taking notes for himself for a later point. He was better then the Brat had been. "Well not quite, bud. Just like there are doubles of you and your friends walking around on other worlds, there are many of the 'Gods' or 'guardians' on the different worlds. I'm like that. I was created, whereas your God was most likely a creator. And you're god would look more like my true form then this one."

There was a silence in the room when he finished. Two of the people were stunned at Kero's mature response to Syaoran's words while the others processed the information they had just been given. Fai was the first to speak. He clapped his hands and smiled. "That would make sense. Gods and guardians can't cross time and space without using a lot of power, just like humans can't."

Kurogane picked up on Fai's very annoying glances and stood up, "So, doll, you seem to know a lot about us. Would what you know happen to include why we're here?"

Kero glared at the man. "Yes. But why you're here isn't the same reason any of you are traveling. This is a gift of sorts from my old master Clow Reed and the witch Yuko-san to the kids." Kero turned around and flew over to Sakura. "Oi, Sakura. Let's go to your house. Those two," he nodded to Syaoran and the Princess, "have people to meet there."

Sakura smiled and stood up, closing her bag as soon as Kero was in. "I didn't get anything in cause everything happened so fast but I'm Kinomoto Sakura. I don't really get what's going on but I'm glad to meet you and I'm more then happy to take you to my house. Come on." She smiled at the older version of herself who smiled back.

"Yes. Let's go." Princess Sakura agreed, allowing both Sakura and Tomoyo to take her hand and lead her out of the room.

Mokona settled onto Syaoran's shoulder as the rest of the group followed the three girls. Syaoran felt a hand grab his shoulder and looked over to see Fai was leaning forward slightly. "It looks like the Princess has found a new friend in both herself and Tomoyo-chan. But Kuro-sama and I both think we should be careful."

Syaoran smiled slightly. "Her Highness has always known who to trust, never once has she been wrong. I'll keep alert but I don't think they'll hurt her." His pace speed up a little nonetheless, showing he was eager to keep the Princess in sight.

Fai smiled as he watched the boy catch up to the three girls. "It's so sad, isn't it? Our children are growing up so quickly, Kuro-daddy!" He draped himself over the ninja as they caught up to the waiting group.

"Stop with those damn nicknames! Damnit, Mage!" Kurogane shouted pushing Fai off him, not allowing the mage a chance to rest on him.

Fai pouted and picked up Mokona. "It's no fair, Moko-chan! Kuro-puppy is always mad at me! How can we raise a family like this?" Mokona giggled at Fai's usual antics and heard the two younger girls giggling along. This only managed to egg Fai on. "Have you ever seen such a mean daddy, Sakura-chan? Tomoyo-chan? He dislikes mommy and ignores one of the children." He held Mokona high above his head, earning him more giggles.

"Oi, monster, hurry up! At the rate you're going we might as well go meet dad at the university." A loud voice boomed above the din of children milling around the entrance of the school.

"I'm not a monster!" Both Sakuras yelled at the black hair boy on the bike. They looked at each other and burst into a new fit of giggles, seeing they already had things in common despite being from two different worlds.

From behind the black haired young man stepped a silver haired young man. "How are you today, Sakura-chan?" He asked the young girl as the group reached them.

"Fine, Yukito. Big brother, do you mind if we bring my friends with us? They are visiting for a bit and I thought it would be nice to show them around." Kinomoto Touya shrugged and started to walk his bike down the street.

The Princess stood still for a minute, watching both Touya and Yukito. Syaoran grabbed her hand and gave her a light push. "Your Highness. I think this is the gift the guardian was talking about. You didn't get to see the people who looked like them last time. You were asleep the whole time on that world. Do you want to go talk to them?"

Sakura shook her head but smiled. "I'm sure Syaoran-kun will see someone very important to him on this world. Then Syaoran-kun can smile too."

Syaoran smiled lightly. Other then the Princess there was one other important person, his father, Fujitaka. The man had died and Syaoran missed him greatly at times. The times he missed him most was when he found out something new about the world, or worlds, around him. His father would have loved to talk to Ceroberus and learn more about this form of the god.

"Ah, Sakura-chan, Touya. I see you brought friends home with you today." A voice said from in front of the group. Syaoran looked up sharply at the clear tone in the voice. There, standing on the steps leading into a house was none other then Fujitaka…though not his father. In fact from the looks of it Fujitaka was Sakura-chan's father. But just seeing his smiling face again was a wonderful gift.

Syaoran looked over to Mokona and saw it's eyes grow odd, signaling the end of the groups adventure in this country and the start of their next adventure in the next country. He moved over to Fai and smiled. "I told you, her highness always knows who to trust."


End file.
